Two Cops Shot
Location: Phoenix, Arizona Date: July 30, 1992 Story At night on July 30, 1992, Officers Marla Gillespie-Wasser and Dave Logan, were partners for the first time. "Normally, I with a different partner and I didn't know Dave. I didn't even know his first name. Most of the time, we call him Doc," Officer Gillespie-Wasser stated. That night, Officers Gillespie-Wasser and Logan would deal with young people hanging out with gang members and tell them not to be out on a curfew. Officer Logan was passionate about the D.A.R.E. program. "He felt that preventing criminal activity would be better than just locking them up and letting them back out," Officer Gillespie-Wasser stated. Officer Logan, who worked a lot, told Officer Gillespie-Wasser that he was planning to go on vacation with his wife, Sheila, for a second honeymoon when he got off work. Then they spotted two suspicious young men walking down and, when they passed them, Officer Logan spotted a pistol. They pulled right in front of them since normally they wouldn't take on two police officers. When Officer Logan was coming out of the squad car, the one with the pistol fired at them and Officer Logan got shot. Officer Gillespie-Wasser, who received fresh wounds on her finger and leg, fired back at the suspect and went down on the car. After a few tense seconds, she spotted him at the back of the car and wounded him as the two suspects got away. Then Officer Gillespie-Wasser heard Officer Logan gurgling and spotted him down on the driver's seat. She knew the gurgling sound meant he got shot in the head and tried to tend to him. "He looked up at me and said, 'Can you please hold my head?' I'll never forget it," said Officer Gillespie-Wasser. Officer Gillespie-Wasser yelled out on the radio that there was an officer down. Ron Lake was among the first officers to arrive. After seeing Officer Logan, he thought he was dead. Lake listened to his breath and it was shallow. When he shone his flashlight on his eyes, they didn't respond. "I didn't know this officer. I never met him before. But my only thought was I'm not gonna let him down," Lake said. Lieutenant Debbie Byer took charge of the scene. It was unsettling and thought Officer Logan wouldn't make it. Byer questioned Officer Gillespie-Wasser about the shooter and she said his description and where she shot him. When asked where she was hit, she also complained that her hand was shot. "My concern the whole time was Dave. Right before his honeymoon did this have to happen," Officer Gillespie-Wasser recalled. As soon as the scene was secured, a Phoenix fire engine crew, including paramedic Chris Kenworth, started to treat the wounded officers. Kenworth found that Officer Logan was shot in the neck and was minimally responsive. He was concerned that the bullet could have caused injury in the spine and if so, the situation could be life-threatening to him. While taking him to the hospital, Lake finally got a response from him when he moved his fingers. The wounded suspect was found hiding in a dumpster not far the scene by the K-9 unit and was brought to Officer Gillespie-Wasser, who was inside another ambulance. She identified him and took him to custody. "The anger didn't really start until I actually saw him face-to-face. And then it was like 'Wait a minute here,' why did he do this? We were just going to stop to talk to him about out after curfew," Officer Gillespie-Wasser recalled. Officer Logan was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Hospital in critical condition where he was treated by trauma surgeon Dr. Bart Carter. "By the time he reached the trauma room, Dave was within 2 to 3 minutes of dying. He lost the ability to breathe and to move. For those reasons, we knew he had a spinal cord injury," Dr. Carter stated. As Officer Logan was being rushed to surgery, Shelia was notified of his shooting. "At 1:00 in the morning, the doorbell rang. They said he's been shot and I just...yelling "This isn't happening. This isn't happening," Sheila recalled. Officer Logan was in critical condition for several days. Dr. Carter thought the outlook was grim that he wouldn't be able to use any of his extremities. Down the hall in the same hospital, Officer Gillespie-Wasser was recovering from the gunshot wounds in her finger and leg. She came to see Officer Logan and they told her he was holding his own. She saw him in the halo and that he was paralyzed. They told her that he might not walk again. Because if he couldn't walk, he couldn't wear the uniform or teach D.A.R.E. classes. Officer Logan recalled waking up in the ICU and couldn't move. When the doctors put a rubber band on the bed, he used it to move his index finger back and forth to start focusing on his recovery. He was hospitalized for six months. When he was escorted out in a wheelchair, he got up and walked out. The shooter was found guilty was two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to prison. Six months after the shooting, Officer Logan returned to work with Sheila's support. "There's no medical explanation for Dave's recovery. He got here from sheer determination. He is a very determined. He had no time for self-pity. No time for anger and blame. He took all that energy that a lot of people waste on those things and put it toward for physical therapy and rehabilitation," said Sheila. "All my dear kids. One thing I always tell them to never, never quit. They served to me on the silver platter if I did. So I wasn't gonna quit. I couldn't quit. I wanted to be back to normal," Officer Logan said. After the shooting, Officer Gillespie-Wasser started teaching D.A.R.E. classes as Officer Logan was the regular guest lecturer. "If it hadn't for Marla's response, he would have executed both," Officer Logan said. "I look at this way. I did the job I was trained to do. Nothing more, nothing less," Officer Gillespie-Wasser stated. Category:1992 Category:Arizona Category:Shootings Category:Gunshot Wounds